Changing lives, one internship at a time

Elizabeth Sully, U2, International Development Studies and Political Science, took time out from her internship with Liverpool VCT in Kenya this past summer to visit friends in Fort Portal, Uganda.

By Neale McDevitt | In the spring of 2006, Poli
Sci undergrad Ross Margulies was psyching up for another summer doing
demolition for his father's real estate development company in Ohio. Like so
many students, Margulies wanted to do an internship related to his field of
study, but that would have meant losing three months of much-needed salary.
Once again, it looked like the need for cash would win out over invaluable
experience.

Instead, Margulies found out that he had won one of two Honourable Paul
Charles Casey Internship Awards, which would give him $2,500 to pursue an
internship at the Washington D.C. offices of FairVote, an electoral reform
and pro-democracy group. Suddenly, instead of tearing down gyprock walls in
Ohio, Margulies was building professional bridges at the epicenter of Western
democracy.

"The internship was a remarkable experience for me," says Margulies. "I
really found my calling that summer." So much so that he was offered a
full-time job at FairVote upon his graduation one year later, winging down to
Washington just days after his last exam this past May.

Although he is the poster boy for the Arts Internship Program, Margulies
represents just one of the many success stories of an initiative that has
been gaining momentum since its launch in 2004, when it sent 50 students to
do internships in countries like Kenya, Ghana and India. Of that number, nine
earned awards that helped trim some of the hefty price tag associated with
traveling far from home and living in a foreign country. This past summer,
some 200 students worked as interns in 36 countries. Of them, 39 earned
awards to help cover their expenses.

Designed to give undergrads rare practical experience before they finish
their studies, the program is also worth three credits following the
completion of a major topical paper based upon their internship. "The awards
are a crucial component of the internships," says Anne Turner, Internship
Officer, "and we work closely with the Development Office to attract donors.
But it's a fairly easy sell because most of the stories are so compelling.
When you see a student return from the field as a completely changed person,
it gives you goose bumps."

Donors help students

Most of the awards are funded by private donors like Kenneth MacKinnon (B.A.
‘80) and Laura Santini MacKinnon (Honours B.A. '82). In it's first year, the
MacKinnon Initiative Award provided $2,500 worth of financial support to
Sarah Fortin-Langelier, U3, BCom, Desautels Faculty of Management and
Elizabeth Sully, U2, International Development Studies and Political Science
during their irespective internships in Argentina and Kenya.

For Sully, who spent three months in Kenya with Liverpool VCT Care and
Treatment helping design a study on disclosure of HIV status, the importance
of the award goes well beyond the obvious. "Aside from the financial
contribution, which is significant, it also shows that there are other people
who have faith in what you are doing," she says. "That in itself is a
motivating factor."

An investment banker who remembers his own trials and tribulations finding
summer employment as a McGill undergrad, Kenneth MacKinnon says there was
never any doubt how he and his wife wanted to give back to their alma mater.
"This was the perfect way for us to give back to the institution that had
prepared us so well for the real world," he says. "If you can make a
difference in the lives of one or two students a year then that's important
to me. Some people like buildings, I like to focus on the students."

In the end, the payback for investing in a student's internship and making a
difference in their life ultimately benefits the world, as it gains another
dedicated professional passionate about the issues that will shape our
tomorrow. When asked what it's like for a young political junkie to be
working on Capitol Hill just months after graduation, Margulies chuckles.
"This is where I'm supposed to be right now. It's incredibly exciting."